Stressed

Rochdale and District Mind offer a wide variety of services to help local residents suffering from stress. The first step in accessing any of the help available at Rochdale and District Mind is to complete a referral form and to meet a Wellbeing Worker to discuss your issues. You and your Wellbeing worker will then build up an individual action plan to tackle your issues.

The section below explains more general information about stress, including possible causes and information on how you can access treatment and support. It includes tips for helping yourself, and guidance for friends and family.

What is stress?

We all know what it's like to feel stressed, but it's not easy to pin down exactly what stress means. When we say things like "this is stressful" or "I'm stressed", we might be talking about:•Situations or events that put pressure on us – for example, times where we have lots to do and think about, or don't have much control over what happens.•Our reaction to being placed under pressure – the feelings we get when we have demands placed on us that we find difficult to cope with.

It's overwhelming. Sometimes you can't see beyond the thick fog of stress.

There's no medical definition of stress, and health care professionals often disagree over whether stress is the cause of problems or the result of them. This can make it difficult for you to work out what causes your feelings of stress, or how to deal with them. But whatever your personal definition of stress is, it's likely that you can learn to manage your stress better by:•managing external pressures, so stressful situations don't seem to happen to you quite so often•developing your emotional resilience, so you're better at coping with tough situations when they do happen and don't feel quite so stressed

Is stress a mental health problem?

Being under pressure is a normal part of life. It can be a useful drive that helps you take action, feel more energised and get results. But if you often become overwhelmed by stress, these feelings could start to be a problem for you.

Stress isn't a psychiatric diagnosis, but it's closely linked to your mental health in two important ways:•Stress can cause mental health problems, and make existing problems worse. For example, if you often struggle to manage feelings of stress, you might develop a mental health problem like anxiety or depression.•Mental health problems can cause stress. You might find coping with the day-to-day symptoms of your mental health problem, as well as potentially needing to manage medication, heath care appointments or treatments, can become extra sources of stress.

This can start to feel like a vicious circle, and it might be hard to see where stress ends and your mental health problem begins.

Clicking on the questions below will take you directly to our Stress Frequently Asked Questions section to give you detailed answers to these frequently asked questions• Why does stress affect me physically?• What are the signs of stress?• Why do certain things make me feel stressed?• How can I deal with pressure?• What treatments are there (for stress)• How can other people help?

National Mind have produced a booklet on How to manage Stress. Click here to access the booklet

The Open Mind team is the 'gateway' to all the services of Rochdale & District Mind, apart from the Advocacy project.
You can refer yourself, or be referred by a supporting professional, anytime you feel you are experiencing mental distress and would like support

Welcome to ‘Open Young Minds’, our confidential young person’s service available for children and young people with mild to moderate emotional health and wellbeing issues and are living in Rochdale (including Heywood and Middleton) and are aged 11 – 25 years old.